The horse lover comes from a long line of bag pipers and horse owners that you can trace back to Scotland’s Isle of Skye. So, it’s an odd thing for a Scotsman, who prefers horses, to co-own the top two rankings cows in Eastern Ontario’s most prestigious Holstein show.

Don McCrimmon’s Holsteins earned grand champion and reserve grand champion at the Eastern Ontario-Western Quebec Holstein show in Kemptville last month. "They tell me it’s history," he said. As far as anyone can remember it’s the first time since the show, formerly the Ottawa Winter Fair, moved to Kemptville in 1986, crowned its best two cows from the same owner and breeder.

"My breeding philosophy comes from horses," said McCrimmon, 47. "I’m a horse lover. I want a big, frame — powerful."

He already has his foundation cows: two champions with a long line of ribbons, that can be traced back to Eastern Breeder’s semen from champion bull, Sunnylodge Linjet, owned by the Chesterville Smiths’s of Sunnylodge Farms and bred heifer, Kirklea Majesty Liz, from Robert MacDonald’s Dalkeith dairy herd. You have to be a little lucky and this combination clicked in his herd. He doesn’t think his chances are good at getting another winner like his grand champion eight-year-old Boreraig Linjet Barb.

Most people who own horses really know the mother and father of the stallion, he said. He’s the same way about cows. He knows his cows. Before he chooses the bull, he looks as his offspring. He looks for size, a well-attached udder, long neck and a deeply ribbed animal. "I have to see the daughters before I use the bull. I want to be able to put my hand between those ribs. That’s efficiency. She can eat a lot of hay and turn it into milk."

If cloning technology improves and the price drops to about $10,000 from $25,000 he’ll clone his champion cow, he said.

A champion cow needs champion fitters and feeders. So, his two best are housed at Signature Holsteins, owned by Mike and Tea Farlinger, at Morrisburg. The couple have part ownership in the champion cows. Each cow is in its own box stall where they get consistent daily care. A Signature Holstein cow earned reserve grand champion at the show two years ago in another partnership. The partner was Glen Smirle, of Chesterville.

"I’m a farmer, not a fitter," said McCrimmon. "You wouldn’t do your daughter’s hair the day of the wedding."

The Farlingers developed the prize cows, feeding her a special diet of "dry hay, more dry hay, peat pulp, dry grain," said McCrimmon. "You don’t put that cow on TMR."

As for fitting. Todd Edwards is the best, he said. "If you have a real good cow, you are better off giving it to the professionals. There are only a handful of good fitters in eastern Ontario. Todd Edwards is a professional. What he can do with clippers is unbelievable."

McCrimmon figures that 90 per cent of breeders can’t show cattle professionally. "It takes someone with a passion, the time and interest. It has to be your thing."

McCrimmon lives alone in the 5th generation stone house he grew up in. His marriage didn’t last and they never had children. So, his only help is student labour in the summer months. He grew up walking to a one-room schoolhouse down the road until Grade 4. His two elderly aunts now live there.